Low salaries, commanders’ abuse of power: a lawyer explains what discourages soldiers from serving
29 January 14:50
YOUTUBE
Low pay, the lack of meaningful social benefits for families, the stark contrast with the incomes of law enforcement officers and judges in the rear, as well as the arbitrary behavior of commanders—all of this discourages people from enlisting and fighting. Under such conditions, soldiers do not feel that the state values their lives and service. Lawyer Oleksandr Protas stated this in an interview with the YouTube channel "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the lawyer, a soldier’s motivation starts with the basics—the understanding that his family will be protected and provided for.
“How can you motivate someone to leave everything behind for 20,000 hryvnias? So that your family doesn’t have to worry about how they’ll eat or what your children will wear?” Protas noted.
He emphasizes that in civilian life, even a low-skilled worker in large cities can earn about 40,000 hryvnias a month, while a soldier’s basic pay is often half that amount.
“The daily wage for an ordinary, low-skilled worker is 1,800–2,000 hryvnias. A person can earn 40,000 hryvnias in 20 working days,” the lawyer explained.
According to Protas, the situation is further exacerbated by a sense of injustice when military personnel see the significantly higher incomes of prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officers, who, at the same time, do not risk their lives and have job security.
“We have the money to pay sky-high salaries to judges and prosecutors and to raise salaries for lawmakers. But when it comes to raising salaries for the military… we’re still figuring out how to motivate them,” he stated.
According to him, this system creates a vicious cycle: people don’t trust the state, they join private military companies, the budget loses tax revenue, and the army loses soldiers.
Protas cites the arbitrary behavior of certain commanders as another demotivating factor.
“Commanders take bribes, are drunkards, very often high, on drugs. So I’ll give you a raise, so I won’t. If anything, I’ll send you to storm a landing zone…,” he said.
According to Protas, the salary of a soldier who risks his life every day should be at least 200,000 UAH per month.
“A person who risks their life cannot earn less than 200,000. And this should be a salary, not some measly bonuses,” he concluded.
